Notes

Entertainment

Pioneer DEH-MP3800
with Sirius tuner. I rewired the radio to the camper battery so that I can use it any
time, without needing the keys in the ignition. I also purchased the accessory remote
control, which hangs by the fridge. When I'm camping, the Sirius tuner is usually the
first thing I turn on in the morning and the last thing I turn off at night. Definitely
a good investment.

The Sirius tuner is mounted in the cabinet above the door, and the antenna is just
stuck to the top of the cabinet above the door using self-adhesive Velcro (the
fiberglass top allows the signals to travel through unhindered).

The head unit also plays MP3s, so I encoded much of my CD collection as MP3s with
a medium bitrate (let's face it, on the road, it's too loud in there to hear the
difference) and have the burned CDs in a holder on the driver's visor for easy access.

Finally, I also got the auxiliary input option, which I have located in the same
cabinet as the Sirius tuner. I use that when I'm watching a movie or playing MP3s on
the laptop to fill the space better without blasting the laptop's speakers. It works
pretty well, though I occasionally get a ground loop hum (it depends where the laptop
is plugged in, etc.).

I have an old 8" subwoofer sitting at home that I'm not using for anything, so I've
been kicking around the idea of putting it in the camper. I'd also eventually like to
get new speakers.

One of my reading lights over the couch was damaged beyond
usability in a freak vegetable oil accident (even sealed bottles can leak...).
My parents (owners of a late-80s 34' Airstream trailer) happened to have
this little gem that they gave me! It's
wired to allow three way control of the middle light, and it works even though I don't
have a remote switch for it.

My reading lights and overhead lights (between the driver and passenger seats)
were very dim. New 168 bulbs fixed that.

Generator

6/06 - I had Cummins install a new Microlite 2800 generator, after the original
one stopped working and wasn't worth fixing.

Drivetrain

7/22/06 - New transmission installed. New water pump
installed at this time as well (the old one died while the shop was testing the new
transmission). 111,000 miles.

Fog lights

When I bought the camper, I noticed that the fog light switch was messed up. I
bought a new switch, and I installed it during the first camping trip. The day before
I installed the new switch, I had the camper at a garage putting new brakes on it. As
I was walking toward the garage, I saw the fog lights blinking on and off. When I went to
replace the switch, I noticed that the wires going to the old switch were
quite warm. Surprised, I started checking wires, and I discovered a couple things that
owners of B190s should check:

The fuse in the circuit was electrically after the switch, not before it.

The switch, being a lighted switch, also had a ground wire going to it.

The source of the power for the fog lights was the deep cycle battery, not
the engine's accessory power, as one would expect.

What does all this mean? Well, when the switch broke, it shorted out, and thus
connected by camper's battery to ground. With no fuse in that circuit to blow,
it shorted out my camper's battery (albeit with a relatively low current draw since
this is only 12 or 14 gauge wire), which is why the wiring was hot. The blinking lights
was the deep cycle battery recovering after being discharged, only to be discharged again
within a few moments. Vehicle fires aren't good. Vehicle fires in a vehicle you are
meant to be sleeping in are much worse, and that's exactly what could have happened.

My fix: when I installed the radio I wired it to the coach 12 volt system instead of
the engine's accessory power. That left the radio's original 12 volt accessory power wire,
which is already fused in the fuse box. I used that wire to power the fog lights, so
if the new switch were to short out, it'll just blow the fuse marked for the radio in the fuse
box. The other advantage of this wiring scheme is that the lights now turn on and off
with the ignition key, so there's no chance of leaving them on accidentally and running down
the battery.

The original fog lights had to come off when
I moved to Maryland because a bulb burned out and we couldn't get them open to change
it during the safety inspection (the shop pulled them off so they could pass the
vehicle). In addition, the gray plastic air dam was all cracked and broken, so I pulled
it off. I couldn't find fog lights that I really liked, so I picked up these for $20 at
Advance Auto and put them on. I'm not sure about the fogs, but I like the cleaner look
without the trim piece. Here they are turned off
and on.